bird of passage
/ˌbɜːd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/
"bird-of-passage" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“bird of passage” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 15
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A migratory bird, especially a passage migrant (“a bird that stops somewhere for a short time during a seasonal migration”).
Corpus desk
Index EN-bird-of-passage · bird of passage · English
bird of passage · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 15 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "B" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | bird of passage |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˌbɜːd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 15 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “bird of passage” in English
Rare enough to double-check
bird of passage is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˌbɜːd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Zero misspellings are on record for bird of passage in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Probably a calque of Middle French oiseau de passage: oiseau (“bird”), passage (“part of a journey or route, passage”). The correct English form is bird of passage, spelled B-I-R-D- -O-F- -P-A-S-S-A-G-E.
Definition
- 1A migratory bird, especially a passage migrant (“a bird that stops somewhere for a short time during a seasonal migration”).
- 2Someone passing through a place and only staying for a short time; an itinerant.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how bird of passage appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
There is a wonderful conformity between the vegetation of ſome plants, and the arrival of certain birds of paſſage. [Carl] Linnaeus obſerves that the wood anemone blows in Sweden on the arrival of the ſwallow; and the marſh mary-gold, Caltha, when the cuckoo ſings.
And now the ladies, with their gay plumage, have flown away like foreign birds of passage, and the jolly old priests of Bacchus, in the parlour, make their libations of claret; […]
Etymology
Probably a calque of Middle French oiseau de passage: oiseau (“bird”), passage (“part of a journey or route, passage”).
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.